《JAY'S POV》
Jay listened to the preacher rambling on and on, until he started to feel sleepy himself. He looked at Levi, who had his head resting against Jay's shoulder like usual.
He didn't seem to be actually sleeping this time though. He was fighting to keep his eyes open, which meant he'd fall asleep pretty soon. Jay grinned, realizing that watching Levi fall asleep had become one of his favorite moments of the week.
This was the only time they could be this close in public. He knew that if this would happen in any other situation, they would instantly get found out. But now everyone just thought he was helping this poor, sleepy boy out.
This was why he appreciated these moments more than anything. It had been 3 days since they had started dating now. Yesterday he had taken Levi out to see a movie, despite knowing that going to the cinema wasn't really allowed in their religion.
But that was only a smaller rule, that nobody would care about if they found out about the way bigger rule they were breaking. Jay looked down at Levi again, who looked like he was peacefully taking a nap.
Suddenly Jay got reminded of what happened between Riven and Nick. Well, rather his lack of knowledge of what exactly had happened. After Nick's sudden outburst he had stormed off, leaving him and Felix in total confusion.
Riven had mumbled something about him just being a bit stressed out about school or something, without clarifying what exactly Nick had meant.
Jay and Felix had shared a look, and decided not to bug him about it, since he seemed totally unwilling to talk about it.
They had just continued eating lunch, until suddenly Nick was next to them again. He had sat down next to Riven, ignoring the fact that Felix and Jay were there, and started a conversation that only confused Jay and Felix even more.
He had apologized to Felix for lashing out at him, and told him that he shouldn't have reacted that way because none of this was Riven's fault. At that point Jay had really started questioning what was going on.
But neither Nick or Riven had given them an explanation, so he and Felix had been left trying to grasp what was truly happening. Jay still wasn't sure about that until now.
The rest of the day everything had been really awkward, so Jay and Felix had ended up mostly talking to each other other, since neither of the two boys seemed to be willing to talk.
Jay looked down at Levi's face again, realizing that he was really lucky that everything between them was settled now. He still couldn't believe that he could really call this cutie his boyfriend now.
His dad really hadn't told his stepmom, since if he did there was no way she wouldn't have confronted him about it. But he also hadn't said anything to him about their fight. He actually hadn't said anything to him in general.
The preacher seemed to get heated about something, his voice got louder and with that even more annoying.
"Jeez, he's disrupting my thoughts." Jay mumbled.
Levi moved a bit and when Jay looked at him he realized he was still awake somehow, or he just got woken up. Levi wasn't paying attention to Jay though, he seemed to... be listening to the preacher?
Jay now suddenly got interested to what the preacher was saying, since it must be something very special if Levi of all people was listening.
"Those people, pretending this is something that is normal, even though it is clearly unnatural. They are acting like this is something worth celebrating, as if this is something that is not wrong!"
F*ck, f*ck, f*ck. This was not what Jay wanted Levi to listen to, especially not right now, right after they had started dating.
He felt Levi move closer towards him, probably to try and seek comfort close to him.
"Am I saying these people can be healed? No, perhaps not. Though it is good to question whether a person truly has these feelings, or they have been influenced to believe this by the people around them..." Levi moved his hand right next to Jay's leg, since their thighs were touching one another.
"... but we can not for sure say this is what happened. Still, we should not stop praying for these people, because we know our God is an almighty God. But why does he make people gay, many might ask. The answer to this is simple..."
Levi turned his hand around, so the palm his hand was facing upwards, and wiggled his fingers a bit.
"He wants to test them. He wants them to stay loyal to him. This is why two men or two women should never be together. They should actually consider themselves lucky, because God chose them to have only him in their lives."
Jay moved his hand next to Levi's.
"This is why, these people should be grateful! But what are they doing instead?! They are deliberately sinning, they are going against God's orders, just because they feel like it! So, anyone who dares to engage in a romantic relationship with someone of the same sex..."
Jay grabbed Levi's hand, and interlocked their fingers. He heard someone make a weird noise to his right, and when he looked he saw Matt trying to hold back his laughter, while glancing at their hands.
"IS A SINNER."
"I'm going back to sleep." Levi murmured. "I'm tired."
With that, he closed his eyes. "Sleep well..." Jay answered, after which he leaned over to whisper in Levi's ear: "...my cute little sinner."
~~~~
《RIVEN'S POV》
Riven stared at his glass of water. He didn't feel like drinking it right now, despite being thirsty. He glanced at Nick, who was talking to Jay. Meanwhile Felix was having a conversation with Levi and Alex.
"Aren't you gonna drink it?" Matt pointed at his glass.
"I guess not." Riven grinned. "You can have it, don't worry."
"No, thanks. I'm good." Matt sat down next to him, and Riven felt a bit relieved he finally had someone to talk to.
"Are you sad about today being your last day?" Matt asked, after which he took a bite of his sandwich.
Riven felt a bit confused, and started frantically thinking of what he might be talking about.
Matt noticed Riven had no clue of what he meant, so he clarified: "The last day of you and Nick dating is today. Did you forget?"
Riven stared at him, at loss for words.
"I guess not..." He slowly said. They both looked at Nick now, who was so into the story he was telling Jay that it took a while before he saw that they were both staring at him.
"Is... something wrong?" He asked, sounding a bit unsure of himself.
"Yesss, there is!" Suddenly Sophia was next to them.
"Today it is the last day... so it's time to hear the results..."
"Sophia-"
She cut Nick off, and instead turned towards Riven. "So, Riven. What were these past few weeks like for you? Did you enjoy this relationship any more than you did with your past girlfriends?"
"I thought you didn't date anyone before." Matt whispered, but Riven didn't answer him.
"Sophia, what are you doing? This has nothing to do with Riven, leave him alone. Just talk to me instead." Nick defended him.
"You are just going to tell me it was great, to prove your own point. So tell us Riven, what was it like?"
"Riv, you don't have to answer her." Nick said.
Riven cleared his throat. "I guess... it was fine." He saw Sophia raise her eyebrows.
"It wasn't much different from normal anyway." He glanced at Nick, who clearly also didn't know what to say.
"We just did normal stuff, and we were hanging out together like we always used to do."
Sophia grinned. "Well, I suppose Nick really has always treated you as a boyfriend anyway, so there was probably not much change."
Riven saw how Nick looked aside for a short moment, before looking back to make eyecontact with him.
"But do you think if it had been a girl, it would have been any better?" Sophia asked.
Riven turned his head to look her in the eyes. "I don't know."
Sophia seemed a bit overwhelmed by his answer, and Riven quickly continued before she could think of anything to reply with: "But I know it couldn't have been better if it were anyone else besides Nick. And Nick just so happens to be a guy."
There was an uncomfortable silence for a while.
"Well, there you have your answer." Felix finally said. "Sophia, can you leave now so I can eat my lunch? If I don't finish it in time you're gonna get the blame."
Sophia looked back and forth between Riven and Nick for a while. Then, without saying another word she left.
Riven refused to make eyecontact with Nick, not wanting to face him after what he had just told Sophia.
But he knew eventually, he would have to do so. He finally dared to sneak a glance at Nick, and saw that he had a very confused look on his face.
"Nick..." He finally addressed his ex-fake-boyfriend. "Can we talk?"
~~~~
《NICK'S POV》
"So... what did you want to talk about?"
Riven nervously bit his lip, noticeably uncomfortable to be alone with Nick. They had just finished their last classes, and were now sitting on a bench in the school yard.
Nick had been wondering what it was that Riven wanted to talk about all day, he was anxious but excited at the same time. What Riven had said to Sophia this morning had nearly sounded like a confession, so he couldn't help but get his hopes up.
"I hope... you didn't take what I said to Sophia this morning as a confession, right?"
In an instance, Nick's world came crashing down again. "I- Of course not." He awkwardly laughed.
"Alright then. I just wanted to clear that up, since I was scared you might have misunderstood."
Riven smiled at him, unknowing of how much more this hurt this caused him. "I hope we can just continue being normal friends."
Nick nodded. "Sure, don't worry about it."
Riven checked his phone. "I should go home now, my parents wanted to have dinner together. I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"
Nick nodded again. "See you tomorrow."
He watched Riven walk away, and waited for him to get out of his sight to pull his legs up, and rest his head on his knees.
"F*ck." He whispered. He sat there for a long time, thinking about what a mess his life was. Even though they had agreed on just being friends, Nick knew he wouldn't be able to get over Riven before he had clearly told him how he felt about him.
He just felt Riven was trying not to hurt his feelings, by not straight up telling him that he didn't like him, but in this way he only made it worse. Now Nick was continuously made to feel like he might have a chance, to only get his heart crushed again.
He wondered what time it was now, but didn't bother to check. He would be spending the night over at his mom's tonight, so he knew he could just make up some stupid excuse.
There was no way he would have gotten away with that when he was at his grandparents' home, since they were pretty strict. He liked his grandparents though, they were nice.
His mom was too, but she was a bit irresponsible at times. But the way both of them acted towards him wasn't really something that bothered him. The way they treated each other on the other hand...
He knew they were often fighting about the way he and his siblings should be raised, which honestly had made him feel quite uncomfortable when he witnessed it before.
But right now Riven was of bigger concern to him. He pulled out his phone, looking at the background. The picture of him and Riven felt strange now. Perhaps he should change it.
He let out a deep sigh. Life was sometimes just way too complicated. He just hoped time would work in his favor.
《END OF THIS CHAPTER》
Time will solve anything... right?